Jean-Luc De Fanti, managing partner, Hemisphere Capital Management

Dealmakers Impact Report 2011: Finance

A native of France with a masters in science from MIT and an MBA from Harvard, De Fanti teamed with former CBS and Sony exec Jeff Sagansky in 2007 to found Winchester Capital Management, which focused on financing independent films such as “The Private Life of Pippa Lee” and “The Killing Room.” In late 2010, De Fanti and Sagansky transitioned from Winchester to Hemisphere Capital Management.

KEY DEAL: In August, Hemisphere launched its Tentpole Co-Financing Fund, which has put more than $200 million into four projects — “The Smurfs,” “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” and the upcoming “Men in Black III” and “World War Z” — and is set to invest in 12 to 16 more studio films over the next four to five years.

“(Hemisphere) still has the capacity to look at opportunities independently,” he says, “but the focus is on big-budget event films with an expectation of strong international performance.”